Offroad lights

Opinions anyone??? IPF, PIAA, Hella, Pro-Comp, Warn, KC ???? I want to buy some offroad lights, but don't know enough about them to make an intelligent decision. I noticed that KC has a new light called the Slimlite that looks pretty good. I want some powerful lights for offroad use. I'm not too concerned with fog or driving lights. I'm also looking for opinions on whether or not I should connect them to the stock fog light wires and do the Electroken relay modification :) Thanks.

PIAA 80XT's my friend. :)

IPF 960's are good too, and were on sale at Overlander. I have both, I like the PIAA's better.

I've seen the KC Daylighters in action--they're bright, but way too narrow for my taste.

The Hella 500's work well for the money, and you can put 100 watt bulbs in them, but they don't hold a candle to my 80XT's (I wheel a lot with a friend of mine who has 4 Hella 500's on his front bumper.)

Don't know about Pro-Comps or Warn.
If you check my website, you can find comparison pics of the PIAA80XT's against the IPF 960's, as well as the high and lowbeams. (Look under Mods, Lighting Comparison.)

I checked out your site Gothamist. You have alot of good info on all sorts of stuff! I noticed that you didn't care for the wiring harness or switch for the 80XT's. I'm thinking of hooking them up to the stock fog light wires. There is a thread on the XOC in which Electroken explains how to modify the relay so that the switch works anytime, rather than only with lights on, low beam.

Thanks ScottG. :)

The only thing I'd be concerned about in wiring up the aftermarket lights to the stock wiring is what guage the wire is for the stock fogs. I have my PIAA 1500's hooked up to the stock fog-light wiring, and it works great, but since the 80XT's are over double the wattage (120W each vs. 55W) I'm not sure how well the stock wiring would take to that much current (~10 amps to each light, as opposed to <5.)

I know a few people have hooked up 85W lights to the stock wiring, though, so it might work out fine...

The complaints I have about the PIAA 80XT's wiring harness as compared to the IPF's is that the PIAA relay is bigger, and the PIAA switch requires you to ground it inside the cab, which the IPF's doesn't. Neither of these is major, it just makes the install a tiny bit more work.

Take into consideration cost vs. how much you will actually use them.

Those of us in the MAXC group tend to do a lot of night runs. If you don't do a lot, I personally don't see any reason to spend the $200+ for IPF/PIAA lights.

And if you go the way of IPF, in particular the 960's, be aware that changing out the 55w (black housing) or the 110w (silver housing) for 130w lamps gives no noticeable changes.

Then again, you could go for the IPF 900's. Those things are monsters. About 1-2 inches larger than the 960's.

Here is a small avi of my KCs (160 watt, pencil beam) take note that I did not have them aimed very well.



http://users.bentonrea.com/~creator/4x4-night.avi

I currently run 4 100 watt Explorer Pro Comp lights. They are narrow, but with two low and two high and aimed correctly, I just turn my headlights off since they are rendered useless by the lights. The bad aspect about the Pro Comps is the paint stinks. I had mine for a year before I had to strip them down and have them powder coated. For what I spent on the lights and having them powder coated, I could have bought a set of KC's which come from the factory powder coated. If you want to see my lights and my wiring, you can visit my website at http://home.mpinet.net/warmongr/ where you will find all the info you need to help you figure out what you want.

Thanks for the insight guys. Ya'll have done amazing things with your websites. I'm feeling very inadequate in the computer skills department :)

Im very partial to Hella. It all does depend on you money though... PIAA makes some excellent excellent lights also. I have just two 550f which are the fogs. They are brighter then my low beam headlights. They have their own wiring harness so you dont run off your little pussy headlight wires. Theres some really cool lights out there. The more cool they get the more expensive they are.... Its a trend ive noticed in life, which really sucks... have fun...

I've got a set of 150w KC's. They're great lights and bright as hell, but the beam is rather narrow. I'll be picking up a set of PIAA 80XT's for the ARB and mounting the KC's up top sometime soon.

I still don't know how I ever lived driving around the dunes at midnight without additional lighting. They make a world of difference. They're also great when you're out smoking a cig, just leave the lights on and stand in front of them. Keeps ya nice and toasty. :D

Where enzo and I come from KC's are white trash lights... take no offense to this for that people that do own them... It just seems like every redneck truck has a pair.... So thats why I went Hellas way...

And for some reason I see Hellas on the yuppie Mercedes SUV's and other 4x4 suburbanmobiles that never go offroad in my area.

No offense to homever owns those. :eek:

I like the IPF's because I appreciate their build quality (better than my PIAA's). But you can buy a couple of sets of KC's for the price of some IPF's.

Yeah, my wife told me I was making the truck look "redneckish" by putting on the KC's. And as Schlud said, KC's are rather inexpensive when compared to some of the better lights(i.e. IPF). I would venture to say that an inexpensive light with a 23(?) year guarantee would be near the top of the poorer man's(that's me, by the way) list when shopping for offroad lighting.

My next mod.

Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mudflaps. :D

Oooooooooohhhh! Now that will be cool.

I know what you mean. It's a fine line between having your truck look "equipped" and "redneckish".

I don't plan on adding much more external stuff. I'm focusing more on mechanical mods.

Although my run of accessories this year was expensive. My wife keeps asking when we're getting a new dining table every time one of my UPS boxes shows up at the door.

I don't know if you guys have seen the KC Slimlite. It has a slim design like the Hellas and is made of titanium. It cost about $150 to $170. It doesn't look redneck at all in my opinion. Although, I have friends who might characterize me as a redneck, so my opinion probably shouldn't count. Those same friends probably wonder why I traded in my GMC pickup for a "yuppie" (in their opinion) Xterra :)

By the way, my wife calls my TJM a "bubba bar." :) She doesn't like the ARB either. Like Schlud's wife, she would rather my buy a dinning room talbe or something.

I bought the PIAA 80XT's as gothamist suggested. They are worth every penny. They are very bright and have a wide beam pattern. The only downside is that I had to wait about a month and half because they were on back order.

Originally posted by ScottG
Like Schlud's wife, she would rather my buy a dinning room table or something.

HAHAHA! I heard that! My wife thinks that I'm on the path to Xterra hell. She doesn't appreciate the finer art of truck modification such as I. This has been the topic of many a discussion we have had. She was especially resistive about my 10 month mod plan.

just tell her it keeps you at home and close to the house when doing these mods and it keeps you out of trouble. :D

Originally posted by Aquamander


HAHAHA! I heard that! My wife thinks that I'm on the path to Xterra hell. She doesn't appreciate the finer art of truck modification such as I. This has been the topic of many a discussion we have had. She was especially resistive about my 10 month mod plan.



Heheheh take her out with you, once is all it will take for her to see the light. I now have a firm timeline (and blessing) for all my mods ;-)

Ben